


Horns

by MetalFox



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Mobfell (Undertale), Bara Sans (Undertale), Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Gangs, Mobs, Multi, Mystery, Slow Burn, Violence, big bois, cop Sans?, cop x mobster, mentions of drug use, monster oc?, sharp teeth, smut with plot, twists and turns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-06-29 20:07:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19837615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetalFox/pseuds/MetalFox
Summary: She works as an enforcer in her Aunt's gang, doing anything from petty thief to murder and everything was going fine until the monsters came back to the surface, and with them came the threat of a new drug on the market that not only can turn humans into crazed-monstrous versions of themselves but  can also kill them.  Cynthia stumbles upon a crime scene surrounding the drugs and is dragged along with the investigation, putting her in the path of a new skeletal-cop who has a few secrets of his own.





	1. Murder for Hire

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head for a hot-minute and had to write it or else it would continue to haunt me at night. 
> 
> Enjoy!

His footsteps echo through the warehouse as he tries to find a way out, she forgets sometimes how little humans can see in the dark, it's actually quite comical seeing the grown man stumbling around and thrusting his arms out in front of him wildly.

Sadly she can't let him get out, not after her Aunt specifically asked that the five men who had stolen from her be made an example of, the other four already lay motionless in the main storage area of the warehouse and Cynthia has to admit she's having a bit of fun with the last one.

Sadistic and twisted of her, yes, but she's not exactly human and she finds it hard to understand emotions in times like this, when the world is dark and people are sheltered in their homes, only true monsters come out at night and this is her playground. 

He's nearly made it to the loading bay door that's cracked open just enough to entice him , but she's not going to let him get out. 

Muscles tensing she leaps down from the rafters, using his body to cushion most of her fall she lands squarely atop his back, feeling and hearing something in his chest break, maybe a rib or two? 

He cries out hoarsely, all wind knocked from his lungs she watches him claw at the concrete flooring as he manages to drag them forward a bit despite the pain and fear leaking out of his every pore, "Stubborn aren't you?" she muses aloud, reaching down to grasp him by his hair she grabs his chin with her other and snaps his neck. 

His body goes limp and she waits a moment, listening for any sound of a heartbeat or breathing, she's learned from experience that she has to put effort into killing people with a neck snap and that it doesn't always work out, but it seems her efforts have worked this time cause she doesn't pick up on any sign of life. 

Standing up she dusts her hands off on her jeans and ducks under the garage door, pulling it down after her and locking it before digging a cigarette out of her jacket pocket and lighting it with a snap of her fingers. 

She's still working out the use of magic, growing up in a government lab they didn't believe in magic even though a lot of the scientists who created her knew about monsters….they believed in them, but not of their use of magic, that was until the monsters were brought back to the surface last year thanks to a kid. 

The government fucked up and they knew it, the monsters were pissed and rightly so, turns out there was quiet a few of them trapped underground all over the world and that the barrier the kid broke was linked to all the locations, so it wasn't a surprise when monsters began moving into her city. 

Most humans were curious, others immediately pegged monsters as……well monsters, the bad guys, villains, there were protests, segregation and murders. 

Basically it just got shitter, and even Cynthia felt the heat despite a lot of the city having adjusted to her after years living amongst them, apparently she was to blame, her and her Aunt. 

Aunt Primrose, the woman who rescued her from the lab years ago, the woman who's the boss of a pretty successful mob right now, both of them have been receiving death threats off and on over the past few months. 

She exhales a long breath, watching the smoke trickle out into the air before dissipating above her head, placing the cigarette between her lips she turns and starts off down the sidewalk, kicking stray pebbles as she goes. 

After she's put a few blocks between her and the warehouse her phone goes off in her pocket and she digs it out, hitting the answer button despite the caller ID being blocked, "Betty's BDSM Boutique. All of our operators are tied up right now, leave a message you bad, bad, boy," 

"Cynthia for the millionth time STOP doing that please," 

She smiles and rolls her eyes, inhaling another drag from her cigarette, "Nice to hear your lovely voice too Auntie, how may I help you on this killer night?" 

"So they were the ones who stole 50k from me?" The older woman sighs over the line, sounding extremely tired and relieved at the same time. 

"Yup, sadly they spent it all, but one of them kept a few hundred left at his flat so I'm headed there," Cynthia says, glancing up as a taxi rolls by, the driver seeming to debate about offering her ride for only a moment before spotting her horns and continuing onwards.

"Don't bother, if it's only a few hundred you can get it in the morning, it's getting late," 

She tosses the finished cigarette butt aside and groans, "I'm twenty-three remember? It's-" she pulls the phone back and glances at the time, "Only two a.m. and I was planning on stopping by Michael's to sing," 

"You're twenty-three yes but that doesn't mean I don't still worry about you, even though you're pretty much un-killable…….doesn't mean that it can't happen!" 

"Auntie come on, we both know you'll go to bed and wake up and I'll be back home safe and sound," She says, tucking her free hand into her jacket pocket, kicking aside a can as she lowers her tail some, letting it drag along the sidewalk behind her. 

It's always tiring keeping it up and out of the way, "…Fine, but don't bring any more strangers home! I'm tired of walking in on naked men," 

She smirks and snickers, "Uh huh, sure keep lying to yourself Aunt Prim, I'll be home shortly, night!" she hangs up before the other woman can argue. 

Time to hit up her favorite bar and karaoke place for the remainder of the night and find herself an alibi.


	2. Run Ins

Why did he agree to this again?

He's bored out of his skull listening to his new partner, rambling on and on about the rule book and procedures and what the force is 'really about'. Geez why did their Pops decide _he_ had to be the one to go under cover at the police force?

Sans was surprised they even let him join the force in the first place considering the only thing he had for qualifications was being the Judge Underground, and he was fairly sure his appearance would make them hesitate but the police chief had said they needed a monster on the force to keep the media off their backs….and Sans was the only one stupid enough to apply for the position.

"Any way, we're both stuck on traffic patrol until your gun training registration goes through, could take weeks or a month even and-SHIT!"

The car jerks to a stop and Sans braces a hand against the dashboard, grunting in annoyance, the stupid thing is so small the top of his skull hit the sun visor over head and his eyelights focus on the cause of their stop. 

What the-?

"Fucker!" The woman kicks the front of the cruiser, her red hair tangled around a pair of pitch black horns and it takes him a minute to realize that one, Halloween isn't for a few months, and two, if they were fake they would've fallen off with the impact.

Morton begins to fumble with the driver side handle, "Shit, shit……Cynthia I'm sorry I didn't see you!" he scrambles out of the car with Sans climbing out his own door, curious to meet this chick who was glaring daggers at his partner. 

"Morton you bastard you nearly snapped my board," she snarls, a long tail whipping back and forth behind her in obvious irritation, most of it is a solid black like her horns and it fades into the same shade as her hair, the end reminds Sans of a lion's tail and his eyelights travel back up to her ass, skull tilting some.

"Cynthia…" Morton sighs, pinching his nose, "You're lucky it was me, if another officer ran into you'd be arrested for assaulting a police cruiser, Jesus…..why'd you kick it?!"

Sans blinks and looks to the state of their car, oh yeah the front bumper isn't looking so hot and he sees the board she's talking about, stooping a bit he picks it up and catches the woman's attention, "Hey hands off pal, that's my third one this year," she snatches it away with a scowl. 

"relax hun didn't mean nothin' by it," he holds his hands up with a smirk, her eyes only narrow further, the bright gold of her irises reminds him of a cat and she has freckles, aww cute~

"Uh huh, last cop who grabbed my board decided to use it to break in his new boots," her eyes flicker to his shoes and she clutches the skateboard close to her chest, body tense and annoyance radiating off her, "So pardon me if I'm a bit protective of my personal belongings,"

Morton decides to step in, "Come on Cynthia we gotta take a statement,"

She turns and scoffs, "For what? I'm not hurt asshole, and I'm in a rush," she steps around him, dropping her board and hopping onto it, pushing off the ground before Morton can grab hold of her arm.

"Cynthia!" Morton shouts as she takes off down the road, not turning to look back as she raises a hand and flips them off.

Morton groans at the display and drags his hands down his face, "she a friend?" Sans asks, watching her until she disappears from view.

"No, no we're not friends, the chief just wants us to keep an eye on her cause there's no record of her anywhere, no birth certificate or anything and she's proven to be….a problem sometimes," Morton answers, moving back to the car.

Sans sighs and goes back to the car, that was going to be the most exciting part of his day….he just knew it.

* * *

Cynthia slams the door closed behind her and sets her skateboard down before making her way into the kitchen to dig through the fridge, finding an unopened bottle of wine she pulls it out and uses her nail to pop the cork off before taking a swig and wincing. 

It's a good flavor, but its not nearly strong enough for her and she takes another drink, noticing a pile of files and papers on the kitchen island she steps forward and picks one up as she hears Aunt Prim come in, juggling some groceries in her arms the older woman walks into the room and sighs, "You heard me you could've helped," she grouches, immediately noticing Cynthia's silence.

"What happened?"

Cynthia breaks her gaze off the papers and looks to her guardian, "Had a run in with the police," She answers, looking back to the file she had picked up, flipping through it mindlessly.

"Shit Cyn what'd they say? Was it a couple of our boys?" Aunt Prim sets the bags down and digs into her jacket pocket for her phone, "It was Morton and the force's new monster pet,"

Prim frowns and looks back up at Cynthia, "Monster?" she echoes, confused.

"Yeah, big skeleton fella,"

Aunt Prim sighs and closes her eyes, taking a moment before opening them again, looking older than she is, "That's not good, we've tested you against fire arms and knives, hell you've fallen off four story buildings and landed without a scratch….but a monster….."

"Yeah I know, a monster could probably kill me in a heartbeat, no telling how strong they are or if their magic is deadly," Cynthia mumbles, leaning back against the kitchen counter and rolling her neck until it pops.

"I can talk to a few of the guys we have in the force and get intel on the skeleton, we'll see if he's keen to taking bribes like most of the others," Aunt Prim says, setting her phone down and approaching Cynthia, looking her over worriedly.

"We didn’t fight Auntie," She says amused, "Morton hit me with the car and they got out to inspect the damage, barely said more than a few words to each other,"

Aunt Prim shakes her head and turns back around to start putting the groceries away, "I'll talk to Morton then, see what he can tell me about his new partner, in the mean time I have a list of errands for you to run,"

Cynthia groans loudly, "I just got hooooooome," she whines.


	3. Drugs & Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm playing around with the mob!tale universe and adding my own twist to it, hope ya'll enjoy how the story is progressing!

Errands.

She hates errands.

Today it's mostly just collecting protection fees which would've been a walk in the park if it hadn't been for some stupid plumbers that wouldn't come out to fix Mrs. Bell's sink.

"Apparently they're racist! Bastards said they aren't coming to this part of town because of the high population of monsters," Mrs. Bell continues to complain as Cynthia finally manages to tighten the last joint of the leaky pipe.

"Okay try it out," she instructs, shimmying out from the inside cabinet, ignoring her damp shirt which is stubbornly clinging to her torso as Mrs. Bell turns on the water and they both wait, watching the pipe intently.

Thankfully it doesn't spring a leak. 

"Oh wonderful! Thank you sweetheart," Mrs. Bell smiles widely turning to grab a glass of tea and a lemon square, she shoves the treats into Cynthia's hands, "Take a break dear, you're so thin, all this running around isn't good,"

She snorts but accepts the food, all but shoving the entire lemon square into her mouth, "Thanfs," she says around the mouthful earning a small glare from the elderly woman.

"Don't talk with your mouthful, didn't Primrose teach you anything about manners?" She asks as Cynthia swallows the food then downs the entire glass, sighing once she's done and setting it back on the table.

"Wish I could stay and chat but I have to head upstairs and talk to Evan," Cynthia says heading for the door.

"Wait your shirt-"

The front door closes behind her and Mrs. Bell sighs.

Evan's apartment is on the third floor so she takes the stairs, not trusting the elevator since nine times out of ten it's shut down for repair.

As she steps out of the stairwell and into the hallway she slows, spotting someone slumped against the wall a few feet from Evan's door.

Approaching she realizes that they're dead…..she crouches and turns their arm over, pushing up the sleeve of their shirt to spot track marks. 

She's used to seeing users and the marks left behind by needles but the bruising is intense and she frowns, dropping their arm she stands and moves to the door, noting it's cracked open she slowly eases it open further.

Glancing around the cramped space she spots Evan slumped down in an office chair, head tilted back and eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling, there's something on the desk and she walks into the apartment already knowing he's gone as well.

The thing on the desk is a plastic baggie full of pills but they're unfamiliar and when she lifts it the pills _shimmer,_ the iridescent colors throwing her off she cautiously shakes one out into her palm and holds it up with a tilt of her head.

Something moves behind her and she turns just in time to elbow her attacker but they manage to jab something into her neck, she closes her hand around the pill as she drops the bag and kicks the masked intruder who manages to step back in time to avoid most of the blow.

A blade presses up against her throat as a second attacker manages to get behind her, he was probably hiding in the bathroom or bedroom, she turns and sinks her teeth into the meaty flesh between his thumb and forefinger earning a pained cry as the knife falls from his grasp.

She punches his face, feeling his nose crack, before something is wrapped snuggly around her neck, she chokes as her air supply is suddenly cut off.

Her vision blurs out of focus and she stumbles, feeling nauseous as the world becomes a mess or colors around her.

They injected something into her.

Fuck.

Keeping her hands closed into fists she drives her elbow back, thrashing against the cord digging into the soft flesh of her throat, tears prick up and she gags, losing the last of her air thanks to a punch from the second guy.

She throws her head back, feeling and hearing the guy's nose break as the cord goes slack and she lunges forward, the floor shifting beneath her feet she stumbles.

Crouching on her hands and knees she inhales deep breaths, lifting her head in time to the blurry form of her assailants looming over her, "Fuck…..you," she spits out, trying desperately to grasp at the last strands of consciousness before the injection finally saps it all and she falls forward into darkness.

* * *

Panic seizes her as fights the lingering affects of the drug still stubbornly clinging to her brain and body.

Her throat feels raw and she manages to roll to her side, squeezing her eyes tightly together before finally opening them.

Sunlight hits her eyes and she curses, quickly curling into herself as she clutches at her face, trying to ease the pain.

Once the pain subsides enough she sits up and forces her eyes open, blinking rapidly as the room comes into focus, the hell…….?

"here,"

She twitches as the cop skeleton steps out of the kitchen and offers her a glass of water, they're in an apartment with a similar layout to Evan's except with different furnishings, she cautiously accepts the glass, "What the fuck happened?"

The skeleton glances towards the open front door where Cynthia can hear people moving around and talking, the static of walkie-talkies reaching her ears occasionally, "you stumbled upon a crime scene, congrats,"

Cynthia downs the water and leans over to set it on the coffee table, fabric brushing against her arms she glances down to see a huge dark jacket draped over her like a blanket, she pushes it off and stands.

The room sways and her brain feels fuzzy for a moment before the sensation passes and she shoots a glare towards the skeleton who had taken a step towards her, as if he was going to catch her if she fell.

"You're a traffic cop, why the fuck are you here?"

He snorts, "live here, heard the racket you were makin' and went down in time to see a couple guys flee the scene. stay here, the detective wants to speak to ya," he turns and exits the apartment, leaving Cynthia standing there awkwardly.

A shiver works up her spine as the AC from the apartment meets her still damp shirt and she quickly yanks it off, tossing it to the floor she picks up the jacket and shrugs it on just in time for the detective to walk-in, the new skeleton cop following behind him.

"Fuck off Roth, lemme leave," she narrows her eyes at the man, already feeling the headache behind her eyes increasing in it's intensity upon seeing that the old man is on this case.

"You know I can't do that Cynthia," he waves another officer into the room, "We'll need a few pictures of your wounds so we can use them later," he informs her as she rolls her eyes and sighs.

The officer quickly snaps a few pictures of the bruised line around her neck where the masked guy strangled her before quickly taking his leave, "Now can I leave?" she asks.

An actual nap sounds really good right now, her drugged sleep left her drowsy and sick.

"I need to ask you some questions," Cynthia groans and flops back onto the sofa, head rolling back as she feels the jacket slide a bit to the side probably giving the two officers an eyeful of side-boob not that she cared. 

"The bastards attacked me when I went up to check on Evan, I didn't see their faces cause they were wearing masks and one of them injected a tranq into me so I couldn't break their faces, there I'm done,"

Roth shakes his head, writing in his notepad before speaking, "Were the two men dead when you arrived?"

"Yeah, drug overdose on the hallway guy, dunno about Evan but there were pills on his desk," she answers.

Roth glances at the skeleton who was lingering near the door silently, his red pupils flicker from Cynthia to the detective and he shakes his skull, "There weren't any pills when the officers came to the scene," Roth informs her.

"They probably took 'em, no telling what they're worth since I've never seen the drug before," Cynthia says as she closes her eyes, she hates being tranquilized and she tries to fight the welcoming pull of sleep.

Her name draws her back from the edges of sleep and she opens her eyes halfway, growling low in her chest upon feeling Roth's hand shaking her arm, "Fuck off," she snatches her arm away.

"I asked you if you could describe the pills, Cynthia," he says, watching her calmly despite her annoyance with the questioning.

"Iridescent," she answers, adjusting herself on the couch so she's sitting up straighter, she brings her hands up and stares at her palms, they must've taken the one pill she managed to hang onto during the fight, go figures.

Silence stretches between them before Roth finally speaks up again, "Sans I want you to escort Cynthia home, we'll be keeping in touch with you young lady so please don't make this difficult, we've got two men dead and not much to go on,"

Sans, weird name, looks annoyed at the task of taking her home and once Roth exits he fixes his red pupils on her, his mouth of sharp teeth twisting into a frown as he narrows his sockets, "let's go,"

Cynthia rolls her eyes and stands, shuffling over to him, "Who pissed in your cheerios?" she asks as he takes hold of her arm, dragging her to the door. 

She follows after him without complainant, ignoring the passing glances of the few officers on the scene as he escorts down the stairs, she's silently thankful he's got a firm grip on her cause she's nearly tripped twice now.

Once they're at the bottom and exiting the building he releases her arm and moves to one of the cruisers, "in the back," he says, going around to the driver's seat Cynthia slides into the front passenger seat as he closes his door and glances over at her with a scowl.

"you hard of hearin'?" he asks, starting the car and pulling away from the curb as she buckles up and pulls the sun visor down, staring at the harsh mark on her neck.

"I have something called selective hearing," she says, pressing her fingers firmly against the raw wound and hissing at the lick of pain before doing it again and again until Sans reaches over and grabs her hand she shoots him a glare and yanks her hand from his grasp.

Turning a bit in her seat she narrows her eyes and stares at him, he glances sidelong at her, "what?"

She tilts her head a bit, "Is that real gold?"

He snorts and she blinks, realizing he was trying not to laugh, "ya meet a giant sentient skeleton and ya first question is about my tooth?"

"Yeah, is it real?" she echoes her question again as he slows the car to a stop and she glances outside momentarily to see they hit a red light.

"if it is?"

She shrugs, "Just sayin' people round here might try to rip it from your…skull,"

"not worried 'bout that, where are we goin?"

Cynthia purses her lips, she really doesn't feel comfortable giving him her address, not because he's a monster but because he's a stranger.

Despite his badge he's still someone she barely knows and she turns in her seat some, before relaying her address and leaning against the car door, forehead pressing against the glass.

She decides she's too tired to care.

* * *

Sans hadn't expected to find the horned woman unconscious one floor down from his apartment, at first he thought the fight was between a couple of junkies but when he didn't hear the usual shouting he went down to investigate just in time to see a couple of guys dressed entirely in black fleeing down the stairs.

The first body had been a shock but he ignored it and looked into the apartment to see her struggling to stand, eyes dark and hazy he approached her just as she finally collapsed. 

He called it in and took her up to his place since she'd be safer there, it didn't take long for his fellow officers to arrive and he ended up covering her with his jacket since he could clearly see her bra through the damp fabric and figured she was cold.

How he got roped into taking her home is beyond him.

Roth is a decent human, not letting race and shit cloud his judgement he's probably one of the few humans Sans has any respect for, so when he asked him to take the woman home he couldn't really object. 

Sans was the one to find her after all and she's a witness, so it's only right to keep her under their protection until they find the two who attacked her.

He glances at the strange girl, she fell a sleep, again.

Must be the stuff they injected her with.

Her address is towards the center of town and he stares at the apartment complexes as he passes them by before slowing the car and parking outside hers, "hey we're here,"

He glances at her and frowns, she's still a sleep.

"hey," he shakes her shoulder and she jerks awake, her pupils blown wide she hisses in pain and he quickly withdraws his hand, had he hurt her?

"When you guys find those fuckers let me know, I wanna break their hands," she says reaching up to rub at the bruise on her neck, oh that's what's hurting her.

"you'd be charged with assault," he says simply watching as she turns her head and fixes her gaze on him, her pupils are back to normal and he's once again caught off guard by the gold of her irises.

"It'd be worth it," she says before unbuckling and throwing open her door, "Thanks for the lift," she says and before he can say another word she shuts the door and walks up the steps to the apartment, disappearing inside without a glance back.

He stares at the door for a moment, feeling like he forgot something…..was he supposed to give her the police department's front desk number?

Oh, shit.

She was still wearing his jacket.


	4. Just A Regular Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do NOT own any of the songs mentioned in this chapter, I just really like the music and believe Cynthia's singing voice would sound like this.
> 
> Here's a link for the band/first song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpT7DByytV4&list=OLAK5uy_lRCNUhTAdVmcd1ZEEGn_s1Ws655Z1wtzc&index=2
> 
> Enjoy!

Aunt Prim was not happy.

It's mostly Cynthia's fault for her Aunt's sour-mood since the young woman has been avoiding their house for a few days now…..after the deaths at the apartment complex she became the police's favorite witness and they showed up the following day to try and drag her down to the precinct for further questioning.

Try being the key-word.

She evaded them by taking the back fire escape when they came knocking at her front door, and she hasn't returned since cause every time she'd glance down the street where her and her Aunt live she'd spot a cruiser.

So here she is, wandering down a back alley with her groceries in hand and one of her band's songs playing through her headphones.

She's been crashing at their drummer's place for the past few days and while she sees her band mates as her siblings and would never harm them she's gotten very close to punching Jennie in the face for always eating her ice cream.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickle as the guitar solo rifts through her ears and she stops walking, tugging one of them out she turns and regards her stalker, "What?" she asks digging a sucker out of her bag she unwraps it and pops it into her mouth as the man steps closer.

"You nearly cost us our lives," The guy is dressed in dark jeans and a hoody and she notices the silver flash of a knife in his right hand as he shuffles closer, "…That's happened to a lot of people, gonna have to be more specific,"

The second guy steps out of the shadows, blocking the way she had been heading and wielding his own knife, he's dressed just like his buddy but instead of leaving his face exposed he's donning a familiar mask and Cynthia arches a brow, twisting the sucker around in her mouth with her tongue as the pieces come together.

"Oh you two are the jackasses' who drugged me…..your noses healed nicely, damn," she says, adjusting her grip on her groceries as she regards the unmasked man.

He smirks, his eyes flashing with malice and hunger, "Those pills do wonders," he says as his masked buddy makes a move.

She's not about to make the same mistake as last time, she underestimated them the first time…..but they're not wild animals hellbent on tearing into flesh with teeth and claw, no….they're cunning and smart, planning their attacks in order to kill or cripple their opponent, that's what makes humans so deadly. 

Cynthia failed to see that the first time they ambushed her and they could've very easily killed her then and there, why they didn't she's still not sure.

Twisting out of the way she kicks the masked-man in the back as he stumbles a few paces forward from having ran at her full speed, attempting to jab her in the neck again with a needle while still wielding his knife.

They're going to kill her this time.

She drops her groceries and closes the space between them, quickly grabbing hold of his hair and yanking him back while kicking out one of his legs and dropping him to his knees allowing her to firmly wrap an arm around his throat while she disarms him, getting him to drop the needle first then the knife.

"If you want to finish me off you'll have to stab through your buddy to get to me," she tightens her hold around the masked-man's neck, he claws at her desperately as the panic of losing air sets in and he struggles wildly in her grasp.

Really she can probably just choke him to death right now or even snap his neck…..but she's curious, "Or…you give me those pills,"

"You bitch!" she tenses, waiting for the first guy to charge her and start swinging wildly with his knife which is usually what happens but instead he digs into his pocket and she stares wide-eyed at the few iridescent pills that spill from his fist to the ground, the rest he shoves into his mouth.

He chews on them furiously, his veins beginning to protrude from the sides of his neck and forehead as iridescent drool trickles down his chin.

The change is sudden and alarming, so much so she releases the man in her grasp and steps back, watching as his body contorts and extends, muscles swelling and skin tearing in some places, unable to keep up with the inhuman shift.

He charges her in the midst of his body changing, she barely has time to brace for it.

His speed has increased and so has his strength as he collides with her raised arms she feels the concrete under her shoes give and he shoves her back, massive hands tipped with bloodied nails grab her hair and she grits her teeth against the pained yelp that tries to escape as he hurls her like a ragdoll.

The candy snaps to pieces between her teeth.

She twists her body around mid-air, quickly getting her feet under her as she hits the side of a building, bricks and mortar cracking under the impact as dust fills the air and she feels a twinge of pain in her calves.

Dropping to the ground she manages to dodge another charge, he's unable to slow his momentum and he crashes head first into the building.

He's all muscle, grotesque, swollen, muscle.

Veins strain under paper-thin skin and his body has taken on an unhealthy red color, his head still resembles a human for the most part save for his blood-shot eyes and jagged teeth jutting out through his lips.

He manages to yank his head from the wall and fixates on her, "So the pills are….geez, where the fuck did you get those?" she asks, her elven ears twitching as the second guy tries to grab her again.

The knife manages to catch her arm and she turns quickly, delivering a punch to his face and knocking him out before looking back to her main problem just as the deformed man charges her again.

She leaps up and onto his deformed back, grabbing at his meaty head to try snap his neck, but he skids to a stop and the momentum sends her tumbling off him.

Hitting the concrete knocks the air from her lungs and she coughs, inhaling a shaky breath just as the guy grabs one of her horns, lifting her up by it and making her wince in pain, "Fucking…….bitch," he snarls, bloody drool dribbling down his chin as he tightens his grip on her horn.

"Going to k-kill me huh? I'm not going to make it easy," Cynthia growls, quickly digging her thumbs into his blood-shot eyes, burying her digits into his sockets as he wails in pain and releases her.

She catches herself and glances around quickly, spotting one of the knives they brought she dashes for it and scoops the weapon up, turning around in time to catch a wild swing in her ribs, "YOU FUCKING BITCH I'M GOING TO GUT YOU!"

Cynthia dodges his wild, blind swings, ignoring the pain in her side as she lunges forward and buries the blade into his throat, he gags and grabs at her, trying to peel her off as she drives the blade in deeper.

"Yeah……right," she pants, keeping a firm grip on the knife as the deformed man goes limp, crumpling to the ground without another sound.

She stands there for a moment, catching her breath as she watches the body before turning her gaze to his buddy who remains unconscious and for a moment she debates on killing him as well, the pain in her arm and ribs making the idea seem worth it. 

Cynthia stands there lost in her thoughts, the blood dripping from her hands breaking her trance she sniffs and goes to retrieve her groceries, pocketing the spilled pills before quickly heading back to her friend's apartment.

The cut on her arm heals up by the time she gets through the front door but her damn ribs are still aching, making her wonder if they're broken.

"Jennie I'm back!" toeing off her shoes Cynthia makes her way through the small apartment, frowning when there's no response she makes her way to the tiny kitchen and begins putting away her groceries.

A neon orange sticky note stuck haphazardly to the fridge door catches her eye and she cocks her head, reading the messy hand-writing as she opens a bag of chips.

_When you get home, get dressed and head to Redd's we have a gig!_

_-Jennie_

_P.S. Dress hot there's a bachelor's party and we need those tips!_

Cynthia sighs and stuffs a handful of chips into her mouth before closing up the bag and setting it aside, it seems today is one of those go-go-go days.

She hates those days.

* * *

"Cyn!" Jennie throws herself at Cynthia, her bright blue locks tied up into short fluffy pigtails, the red color of her lips standing out beautifully against her mocha skin.

Cynthia catches the slightly taller girl and holds back a wince when her added weight makes her healing ribs scream, "Hi Jen, thought you said to dress hot?" she asks arching a brow as the girl steps back and grins.

Jennie is dressed in a faded tee with destressed jeans, fingerless gloves, scuffed combat boots and a variety of clips holding her baby hairs back off her forehead, her makeup is the flashiest thing about her tonight, "YOU have to be slutty for us, you're the lead singer after all,"

Cynthia purses her lips but doesn't argue, "When are we starting?" she asks, following Jennie through the bar towards the back where performers are able to get ready in peace.

"Five minutes, Tyler, Zak and Maddie are setting up," Jennie explains as they step into the dressing room, Cynthia steps up to the vanity mirror and uses her pinky to adjust a bit of her winged eyeliner.

She decided to go with a crop top under her favorite leather jacket paired with a black short shorts, fishnets and combat boots, she threw on a spiked choker and some bracelets as well.

With her hair she's left it down as always and her makeup consists of a smoky eye with thick winged eyeliner, her lipstick is a soft berry color.

"We're gonna start with Dark Nights followed by Wicked Ones and then After Midnight," Jennie says, admiring her reflection next Cynthia, adding a fresh layer of her lipstick.

"Sounds good, three songs then a break?" She guesses, done with fussing over her makeup she adjusts her clothing before heading for the door. 

Jennie follows, "Yup! Same as always, we'll see what Redd thinks after our break, see if he wants us to continue until closing,"

Closing being 2am.

Ugh she's really tired….."Sounds good,"

The two of them make their way to the rest of their bandmates, Tyler fist bumps Jennie as she passes him to take her spot behind her drums, "Hey Cyn how's Jennie been treating you?" He teases as he goes over the last few adjustments to his guitar, him and Zak aren't bad looking guys and Cyn knows tonight the two of them will probably get into trouble.

"Fine, she's like a sister, a very, very annoying sister," Cynthia says with a grin, Jennie sticks her tongue out at her in retaliation to the comment.

"Okay ladies enough bickering let's get this party started," Zak pipes up, ever eager to start playing.

Cynthia rolls her eyes and glances at Maddie who rarely ever speaks, but the girl smiles when their gazes meet and so she takes her spot at the mic.

Hopefully this night won't drag on, her ribs are being a pain in the ass. 

She starts off the song with ease, the lyrics and music like a second heart beat.

Singing was something she never thought she'd get into, but after a drunk night singing karaoke here she met Jennie and the others and the rest is history.

The chorus rifts through the bar, the lyrics rolling off her tongue with practiced ease as her gaze sweeps the room, the glare of the overhead lights dulling a bit of the patrons but it's not enough to obscure the two people she's been avoiding for the past few days.

Roth and the skeleton.

Here.

Ah fuck, her ribs are hurting even more now, hopefully she won't pass out.


	5. Pieces Falling Into Place

The rest of the songs pass by in a blur, she goes through the motions of singing, moving around the stage and keeping the patrons of the bar entertained but her attention isn't on the nameless men gawking up at her. 

Her gaze keeps flickering to Roth and Sans, they're obviously here because they found her fingerprints on the knife, she had been in pain and in a rush….she forgot to wipe it down.

Shit. Aunt Prim is going to be pissed.

Once the last song comes to an end they earn a round of applause, Jennie and Maddie move past her to start collecting tips from the crowd as Cynthia turns and heads backstage quickly.

There's an emergency exit at the end of the hall, running from the cops will probably only make her situation worse but she's really not in the mood to be dragged down to the precinct and be questioned, not after the day she's had.

She turns the little corner in the hall and runs straight into a wall of….bone?

….Shit, she scrunches up her nose and steps back, rubbing at her forehead as she glares daggers up at the skeleton, "Geez what the hell, I could've broken my nose,"

"where ya goin'?" Sans asks, his ever present grin pissing her off.

"Outside to smoke," The lie slips easily past her lips as she digs into the pocket of her jacket to retrieve her pack of cigarettes, Sans hums and nods, "think I'll join ya,"

Well shit.

Biting her tongue she follows him out the back exit and into the side alley, she could probably outrun him……but she's not sure if she wants to test the theory or not, especially since her ribs are still hurting something awful. 

She can probably heal them…..but they're her evidence, her proof, that she killed the guy in self-defense…..it's all she has, so she'll endure the pain a bit longer.

"need a light?" Sans voice breaks her train of thought and she nods, not having realized she had been so absorbed in her thoughts she's been standing there like a moron with an unlit cigarette between her fingers.

The skeleton is already puffing away on a cigar, red smoke seeping between the cracks of his teeth and the hollow of his nose, it's beautiful….too bad it's coming from him, she thinks bitterly as he lights the cigarette and she turns her attention to the entrance of the alley, inhaling a lungful of smoke and tobacco.

Aunt Prim hates her habit…..but it had been the one thing that brought her comfort when she had been in the labs, and after many tests it was shown that it'd take lifetimes of smoking for her body to succumb to the affects of the tobacco.

"ya know why we're here?"

Cynthia sighs, blowing out a wisp of smoke as she does, "Found that deformed fella?" she guesses, cutting her gaze to watch him.

He nods silently, studying his half-finished cigar, "the lab geeks found your prints on the knife, they also found your hair in one of his hands, ripped out by the roots," he flicks the bud to the concrete and turns to her, red smoke leaking from between his sharp teeth.

"He tried to kill me, him and his friend from before," Cynthia says, not wanting to give up on her chance to get away she takes her time with the cigarette……the back door opens and Roth steps out.

Her luck sucks today.

"There you two are, Cynthia can we talk with you down at the station?" Roth asks, smiling kindly, damn this old man……she never had a father figure in her life, and the closest thing to a mom she has is Prim…..maybe that's why she tolerates the detective so much.

"Am I being charged with anything?" she arches a brow, the urge to flee tickling the back of her mind as she flicks the cigarette to the ground and crosses her arms over her chest, holding back a wince when the movement makes her ribs ache.

"We don't have all the evidence we need just yet, but we do need to question you to see if you're innocent or guilty," Roth explains, letting the door close fully behind him so it's just the three of them in the alley.

She's so used to running, the urge to do so now is nearly overwhelming but the prospect of the skeleton grabbing her or worse using magic on her trumps that urge and she nods mutely, working on squashing down the fear bubbling in her chest.

She's been through worse.

* * *

At some point after getting to the precinct she fell a sleep, she tried not too but damn she was tired and Jenny's place rarely has AC so when they sat her down in the integration room and the cool air hit her she couldn't help the pull of sleep.

The smell of coffee stirs her awake and she cracks open her eyes to gaze at the styrofoam cup sitting just a few inches in front of her face, sitting back she groans and stretches, cracking her neck and sighing.

The door opens as Cynthia picks up the coffee and greedily drinks, "Finally awake, did you sleep okay?" Roth asks, setting a folder down on the table across from her, arching a brow as she downs the entire cup without pausing to take a breath or speak.

Lowering the empty cup down she exhales a breath, the heat of the drink causing her breath to fan out in a cloud of steam, "Yup, why'd you let me sleep?" she asks, wiping her mouth off on the back of her wrist.

"Figured you needed it, I also didn't want your lack of sleep to hinder your statement," he says, digging his little notepad out of his jacket and clicking his pen, "So….what happened?"

Cynthia rattles off the fight between her and the man, how it was the two from the apartment complex, how the one took those weird pills and….transformed, about her injuries and so on.

After a few pictures of her ribs, her skin looks blackened and green from the bruises, Roth informs her she's good to go for now and if he has further questions he'll call.

He also tells her the skeleton is once again dropping her off.

Are they making him the prescient's Uber or what???

Whatever, she won't be talking to him, not this time. She's got a lot on her mind such as….. what should she do with the pills she collected from the fight? Should she tell Aunt Prim everything that's happening? Should she just…run? Will all of this draw unwanted attention?

She's getting a headache.

"we're here," Cynthia blinks and gazes out at the apartment, her apartment, and grimaces. 

Sans must've noticed because he pipes up again, "what? this is your place right?"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks," She unbuckles and climbs out, Aunt Prim is going to have questions and she's not sure she wants to answer them at the moment.

The skeleton's presence behind her makes her pause and she turns a bit to look up at him over her shoulder, "What?"

"you have my jacket," she groans loudly and motions him to follow her up the steps and inside, "Don't touch anything," Cynthia snaps, leading the way up to the second floor.

"Wait here," she instructs, leaving the hulking monster in the living room/study as she climbs the short flight of stairs that lead up to her and Aunt Prim's rooms, stepping into hers she spots the black and red garment and grabs it, quickly returning back to the living room.

He's moved from his spot, but only by a few inches and he cuts his gaze away from Aunt Prim's desk where she has an array of photos, "Here," Cynthia tosses the jacket to him and he catches it in one hand, red lights gazing over it as if he were inspecting if for damage.

"You know the way out," she says, gesturing to the door.

Sans ever present grin broadens some and Cynthia has to hold back an annoyed groan as he drapes the jacket over one arm and doesn't move, "you've been getting into a lot of trouble lately but none of the officers seem to care……why is that?"

She curls her lip and sighs, "You already know! I'm a troublemaker and I'm…..different, so it's a pain in the ass to deal with me okay?"

"human are a pain in the ass to deal with too, yet they arrest plenty of them,"

Cynthia resists the urge to pick up a photograph off the desk and chunk it at his skull, "My Aunt has money, humans _love_ money," she relents, hoping he doesn't ask how she has money.

Instead the skeleton hums, whether in agreement or thought she's not sure, but he seems pleased with the answer, "right," he says, taking his leave.

Cynthia lingers there in the middle of the room, listening intently as he makes his way downstairs, the floorboards creaking under his weight she doesn't relax until she hears the front door shut and the cruiser start.

Releasing a breath she throws herself onto the couch and yelps, ribs ringing out in pain, "Stupid body, stupid men!" she growls, grabbing hold of one of the decorative pillows under her head and digging her fingers deep into the soft material.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she rattles on, tearing the pillow to pieces, unsatisfied by the mauling and rain of feathers she sits up among the carnage.

She needs to hit something that'll _bleed._


End file.
